1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for receiving double cigarettes or single cigarettes, as rod members, manufactured by and delivered from a cigarette manufacturing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A manufacturing system for filter cigarettes generally comprises a cigarette manufacturing machine for producing double cigarettes or single cigarettes, and an attachment machine, or a so-called filter attachment, for attaching filters to cigarettes.
Cigarettes produced by the cigarette manufacturing machine are intermittently delivered on a predetermined delivery line toward the filter attachment. The filter attachment has an apparatus incorporated therein for receiving the cigarettes on the delivery line, and this receiving apparatus includes a catcher drum.
The catcher drum has a drum shell rotated in one direction, and a large number of receiving grooves are formed in the outer peripheral surface of the drum shell. The receiving grooves are arranged at regular intervals in the circumferential direction of the drum shell. The catcher drum further includes a drum cover surrounding the drum shell, and the drum cover serves to make each receiving groove of the drum shell tunnel-shaped.
When a receiving groove of the drum shell is positioned in alignment with the aforementioned delivery line with rotation of the drum shell, a cigarette on the delivery line enters the receiving groove. Thus, the cigarette is received in the receiving groove and then advances within the groove.
A stopper member is arranged in each receiving groove, and stops the movement of the cigarette while at the same time positioning the cigarette in the receiving groove.
As the drum shell rotates thereafter, the cigarette in each receiving groove is transported toward a grooved drum which adjoins the catcher drum, and is transferred to the grooved drum.
In recent years, there is a tendency for the operational speed of filter cigarette manufacturing systems to increase, and thus the speed of delivery of cigarettes to the filter attachment, that is, to the receiving apparatus, is increasing.
Since the speed of entry of cigarettes into the receiving grooves of the drum shell also increases, it is difficult to optimally brake the cigarettes within the receiving grooves. In some cases, the cigarettes received in the receiving grooves violently collide against the stopper members. Such collision can damage cigarette ends or cause cigarette ends to rise from the bottoms of the receiving grooves, hindering stable holding of the cigarettes within the receiving grooves.
If cigarettes are damaged, the quality thereof lowers. Also, unstable holding of cigarettes within the receiving grooves makes it impossible for the cigarettes to reliably transfer from the catcher drum to the grooved drum adjacent thereto.